Say it with Cheesecake
by Yukitarina
Summary: This is about how Camus was willing to explore the whole Tokyo to find wonderful birthday gift for Hyoga. Crossover with "Kitchen Princess".
1. One

A/N: Hello…this is the fic special for Hyoga's birthday. I'm so sorry for the readers of "The Sketches", I promise I'll finish it, but not in the meantime. This fic is crossover with "Kitchen Princess". Thank you very much for Akiko88 and Pitaloka who have supported me so much to write this fic. For Akiko88, there is Italian word and its translation here, I'm sorry if I made mistakes, I just take it from the passage I've read in "Kithcen Princess".

I really hope all of you'll enjoy this fic. And I'll also wait for the reviews. =)

Disclaimer: I don't own Saint Seiya characters nor Kitchen Princess

**One**

_Teachers are the heroes without any commemoration (Indonesian proverbs)_

Camus was wandering on the streets of Tokyo. What was the best gift-shop anyway? He rarely explored Tokyo and he didn't have any references about which shop he had to visit.

"Hello?" Camus spoke to his cell phone. "Milo, do you know anywhere in Tokyo which sells something for birthday gift?" he said as he kept walking. Sometimes he turned back to see whether he missed some stores, then he turned around again to continue walking, the wind blew his slight-short fringe softly.

"What?" asked Camus, still talking to Milo through his cell phone. "Can you spell it…? S…H…I…N…louder, Milo, I can't hear your voice, why's so noisy there?"

"Wouldn't you be here?" asked Milo. He was standing in the common room of Kido's mansion, in the middle of the Bronzies and the Goldies who were, as Camus has said, really noisy. All of them were preparing a party, the moment there was hurly burly.

"I haven't bought birthday gift," said Camus.

"Whoaa!" Milo beamed. "The master of glacier is buying a gift!"

"Just repeat the name of the shopping district, ok?"

"It's Shinjuku," answered Milo. "S-H-I-N-J-U-K-U."

As he said that, Hyoga suddenly approached him.

"Milo, is that my teacher talking to you?"

Milo was ready to say yes, but Camus prevented him. "Don't say anything, I mean this as a surprise."

"Ummm…no, it's Aphrodite. He wants to go shopping," answered Milo, nodded his head. Hyoga meanwhile frowned his forehead. "But Aphrodite was in the kitchen, helping Aldebaran decorating tart-cake," said Hyoga.

"Really? Well, ummm…ow, you're right!" Milo pretended to gasp. "I haven't seen Aphro since morning, I thought he was away. It means…this is Misty who's talking on the phone now…you know, I hardly can differentiate their voices. Right, Misty?"

"Right, Marin," replied Camus flatly.

Milo laughed, but he gradually stopped when seeing Hyoga walked away with gloomy face.

"Hey, Fridge, you'd better be quick, make sure you're not late attending your pupil's birthday party."

"I know," then Camus ended the conversation. He did Milo's recommendation: visiting shopping district in Shinjuku.

Ariving there, Camus began to search on a gift shop. Finally he found it and directly entered it.

"Konichiwa," said the shopkeeper.

Camus nodded slightly. He was, as usual, having an air of coldness. "Good evening. I want to buy something for a birthday gift. I'll give it to my—"

"Ow, you must aim to give it to your child!" beamed the shopkeeper.

Camus blinked. "What?"

"I've thought it since you've entered this shop!"

"Well, actually it's for my—"

"Wait a second, I'll check the best present a father can give to his child," said the shopkeeper cheerfully as she searched on the shelf.

Camus didn't try to correct the shopkeeper's thought. There was no use. Besides, she looked so happy upon the fact that Camus had a child.

"My…," said Camus. "My son…he's fifteen years old now," his heart was filled with warmth just by saying that Hyoga was his son. "Please pick the stuffs that suit with his age."

"Ok," replied the shopkeeper. "By the way, you look rather young to be the father of fifteen years old teenager."

Camus nodded lightly. There was (believe it or not) slight amuse on his face.

"Here they are," the shopkeeper finally found some ideal things and showed them to Camus. Camus began to examine them. A football merchandise, a wallet, a unique stationary packet, a playstation pouch, and so on. Well…those were the things Hyoga would certainly like, but why Camus didn't have any urge to buy any of them? He looked for something else, something which wouldn't be forgotten easily by his son (or disciple…whatever…).

"I'm so sorry," said Camus at last. "I think I won't buy these."

The shopkeeper didn't look disappointed at all. "That's alright, you have to find perfect gift, this is your son's special day after all."

"Hmm…yes. Thank you then," then Camus left the gift-shop.

He didn't give up. He continued searching on the other gift-shops that were located in Shinjuku, he even entered some numbers of department stores, maybe he could find some new clothes for Hyoga. But still he didn't find anything. Exploring Shinjuku from noon to evening didn't make any results. Meanwhile Milo kept sending him message consisting only two words: "Hurry up". Camus didn't reply. Irritated, Milo sent him all-caps alphabets after twenty messages sent: HURRY UP!

Camus finally replied the message: "Hold on, Milo, I haven't found the best gift."

A minute later his phone rang. Camus rolled his eyes as he placed his cell phone on his ear. "What, Milo?"

"I have enough on this," answered Milo, definitely frustrated. "Believe it or not, I'm hiding in a broom cupboard now in order they won't find me talking to you. The party's almost over, Camus, why aren't you here? Those craps keep asking me about where you are now; how could I know?"

"Fine then," sighed Camus. That's it, he missed his disciple's birthday party. "Let bygones be bygones, I'll keep trying to find the best for Hyoga, ok?"

"Do you think he needs any present from you? The present he wants is only your presence, how come you don't understand that?"

Camus kept walking with his deep blue eyes gazing on the asphalt. "How is he?" he asked, "Is he angry?"

"He's upset, only he's not showing it to his friends. Why're you so obsessed to give him gift anyway?"

"I don't know, Milo, I just want to give him something he won't forget. Besides…," he hesitated.

"What?" asked Milo curiously.

"I never could tell him that I…"

_That I love him…I love him more than anything in the world. The shopkeeper was right, he was my son, and I love him so much._

Milo could understand, though Camus didn't continue his sentence. "You never could tell him how much you love him," said Milo, smiled. "While birthday is the perfect moment to say it. As you can't say it directly, you try another thing. You try to say it with gifts."

Camus didn't reply.

"Alright then, Fridge," said Milo after quite long time. "As usual, I'll always support you."

"Hmm."

The conversation ended and Camus continued his "hunting". Ten minutes later he felt numbness in his feet—how many miles away he'd been wandering Tokyo anyway?

When he was almost giving up, he passed a little boy who was hugging his mother's legs with tears filled his eyes.

"Okaasan (mother)…please…I want to go to Fujita restaurant now…," the boy was speaking in Japan, but Camus understood.

"We can't, Takeshi-chan, we have to go home, your father is waiting for us."

"But I want to buy the peach pie made by Najika-san…we'll move to Nara tomorrow and this is our last day in Tokyo…. I want to visit Fujita restaurant for the last time…"

Camus was startled hearing the conversation. It reminded him to his own past…

_"Camus-sensei, would you take me to buy a slice of cheesecake in the bakery shop there?"_

_"We have no time to buy any cake, Hyoga, you have to do your training. Why on earth you're always less diligent then Isaac?"_

_"But I want to eat cake with you, we so rarely eat cake…. Only once, Camus-sensei, please…"_

_"We can't, Alexei."_

_When Camus had called Hyoga "Alexei", Hyoga couldn't manage to say anything again._

"Alright, Takeshi-chan," sighed the mother. Her voice finally brought Camus back to the present. "We'll go to Fujita restaurant, but don't make it long."

The boy's eyes sparkled, and he hugged his mother's legs so tight. "Arigato, Okaasan…"

Camus watched the mother and son stepped away. He hesitated. Finally he decided to approach both of them.

"_Ex…excusez moi_," he said in reflex. He was so nervous that he slipped out French words.

The mother and the son watched him in confusion.

"Umm…_yurushi_…(forgive me)?" Camus tried to speak in Japan.

"Yes?" replied the mother. Thanks God, she could speak English.

"You…said about Fujita restaurant," murmured Camus. "Is there any cheesecake?"

"You can find various types of cakes in Fujita," answered the mother happily. "We can head there together; it's located near Seika School, not very far from here."

"Umm…ok…"

As three of them walked together to head to Fujita, the mother asked, "Do you aim to give the cake to someone?"

"Yeah…for a birthday gift," answered Camus as he gave a warm gaze at the little boy beside him.

"Must be your child's birthday!"

Camus once again was baffled. Did he really look like a man who'd had a child?

Though he knew it would be useless, he kept trying to make some correction. "Actually the cake is for my—"

"How old is your child now?" seemed like the mother didn't hear Camus's voice.

Camus gave up. "Fifteen years old."

"Oh…how sweet…!"

Camus's stomach suddenly jolted. He couldn't guarantee Hyoga would be a sweet son when he arrived at home later on…

Finally they arrived at a small yet lovely restaurant. There was an air of warmth in it. It was obvious that the restaurant was more than a place to eat—it was like a kind of home.

"Najika-san!" the little boy marched at a beautiful young girl with yellow long hair. The girl smiled widely at the child. "Hello, Takeshi-chan!"

"I want to eat your peach pie!"

"Certainly I will make it for you!"

The mother approached Najika. "This man also wants to buy cheesecake as a birthday gift for his son."

Najika's big eyes were twinkling as she looked at Camus. "Ow, that's so wonderful! You're a very dedicated father, Sir!"

Camus sighed in despair. "The cake is for my—"

"Luckily I have a stock of cheesecake; I made it at nine o'clock in the morning—"

"No, listen," cut Camus. "Sorry for disappointing you, but I have no son."

Najika and the mother blinked.

"I've explored the whole Tokyo to find the best gift for someone, but he's not my son. He is my student, yet I love him as a father loves his son. But still he's not my son," explained Camus. He didn't want to confess it, but he felt slight pain in his heart as he mentioned the fact: Hyoga wasn't his flesh and blood, and he would never be.

Najika and the mother still stared at Camus.

Then after quite long time, both of them asked at once. "So?"

Now was Camus's turn to blink.

"Biological father or not, it doesn't matter," said Najika cheerfully. "As long as there's love in your heart, you can always consider him as your son, the same as he considers you as his father."

Camus was lost in thoughts for some minutes. He watched Najika entered the kitchen and took a 30 x 30 box circled with wonderful ribbons from the pantry. She gave it to Camus then, and when Camus opened it, he saw very-very beautifully-decorated ten slices of cheesecake fulfilled the box.

"Cheesecake is one of wonderful birthday gifts we can give to someone we love," said Najika. "It is so special because it uses cream cheese as main ingredient, while the other cakes hardly contain it. Giving your student cheesecake represents how special he is for you, because you offer something which is uncommon and different from others."

Camus smiled slightly. "I see."

"May I ask for your phone number?" asked Najika suddenly.

"What?"

"Your phone number. I want to know your student's reaction after eating the cake. I really desire the people's smiles upon tasting my cooking."

"Oh…sure."

After paying the cake and giving Kido's mansion phone number, Camus said thanks, said "see you" to Najika and the mother and son who were taking him to the restaurant, and walked home. At last.

**Continued to the next chapter**


	2. Two

Disclaimer: I don't own Saint Seiya characters nor Kitchen Princess

**Two**

Camus had stood in front of Hyoga's room for about ten minutes. It was 11 p.m.; January 23rd would end the next hour. Everybody had gone to sleep, and it seemed only Camus who was completely awake now. Completely awake, and completely nervous. Hyoga must be angry with him. He knew it. That was the first problem. The second problem was: he didn't know how to congratulate his student. Would it be only, "Happy birthday, Hyoga, this present is for you. Good night." Nooo, that's not the perfect words to say. What should he say?

He sighed after thinking deeply. He decided not to enter Hyoga's room. "…just put the box in front of the bottom of the door…," he murmured.

Done.

Camus turned around afterwards. All of a sudden he found Milo standing straight in front of him. He almost hit him.

Milo smiled warmly. "I've guessed it," he said.

Camus didn't reply. He only looked at Milo, who was now held his shoulders firmly.

"Enter his room, Camus," said Milo. "This is not about the result, this is about the trial. You weren't wandering alone throughout the whole city only for putting the gift in front of the door."

The two looked at each other steadily.

Finally Camus nodded. Milo was right. It was so silly if he only left the cheesecake in front of the door.

He would accept whatever the consequence was. This was his fault after all. Camus turned back, took the cheesecake box, then knocked the door as he took a very deep breath.

"Who is it?" a sound from inside. It was obvious from his voice that he hadn't slept.

"It's me, Hyoga," answered Camus.

No reply.

Milo gave Camus a sign to enter Hyoga's room directly. Camus agreed. He opened the door. At the same time Milo clapped his shoulder and left him.

"Hello, Hyoga," greeted Camus.

Hyoga was lying on his bed, his head was on the headboard. There were presents on the table next to his bed. As Camus had guessed, his student looked so gloomy and sad.

"Why didn't you come?" asked Hyoga flatly, without looking at Camus.

"I…"

"That's ok, I know the answer," cut Hyoga. "You think birthday is not important. As usual you don't care about anything but your idealism about what a saint should be. As if I care about it—we're not saints anymore, why should we pretend that we are?"

Camus didn't reply. He only looked at Hyoga with the mixture of feelings in his heart. The cheesecake box was still in his hands.

"Leave me alone, Sensei, I want to sleep," sighed Hyoga as he laid his head on his pillow.

"You have to listen to me, Hyoga."

"Why? Whatever you say you won't make me feel better. Roshi was in Shiryu's side in every special occasion; Marin was in Seiya's side on his birthday, Ikki did so in Shun's birthday party. I couldn't believe that in my party, the one whom I've considered as my father didn't come."

"I can explain it to you—"

"I always dream about how wonderful it is to have somebody else as my teacher…"

Silence.

"I see," said Camus after a very long time. He gazed at Hyoga who had turned his sleep-position—he had his back on Camus now.

Camus slowly approached Hyoga's table and put the cheesecake box alongside the other presents.

"Happy birthday, Hyoga," he said in a gentle voice. "I put the gift here."

Hyoga didn't reply. He'd already closed his eyes.

Camus once again gazed on his student, then left the room.

Hyoga opened his eyes slowly afterwards, felt extreme pain in his heart…

xxx

Camus was about opening his bedroom's door when he heard a voice behind him.

"How is it, Camus?"

Camus turned around. He saw Milo stood at his door which was at the opposite of his.

"Great," answered Camus. He smiled slightly. "Hyoga really likes the cheesecake."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

It couldn't trick Milo.

"You're alright?" asked Milo then in a soft voice. He looked at Camus gloomily.

"Yeah, of course I'm alright," Camus answered, though nobody would feel alright after knowing that he had no worth to be a teacher.

"Goodnight, Milo."

"Goodnight."

Then Camus entered his room and closed the door, while Milo never stopped gazing at the door.

**Continued to the next chapter**


	3. Three

Disclaimer: I don't own Saint Seiya characters nor Kitchen Princess

**Three**

Morning came. January 23rd had passed. Hyoga was tidying up his bed when Seiya and Shun came.

"Hey, Hyoga, we're going to the supermarket, will you come with us?" asked Shun.

"I guess no. I'm not in the mood," mumbled Hyoga.

"Hey, look at this!" said Seiya enthusiastically. He had opened the cheesecake box. "Cheesecake! Is this a present for you, Hyoga?"

"Yeah, I don't know who the sender was," replied Hyoga without looking at Seiya or Shun. Though he knew the cheesecake was given by Camus, he didn't even want to glance at it.

"May I taste this?" asked Seiya.

"Yes, bring it all with you."

"You're kidding!"

"I'm not, you can eat all of the cheesecake."

Of course Seiya and Shun were gladly bringing all the slices of cheesecake as they didn't know anything about it.

"Ok then! Thank you very much, Hyoga!" beamed Shun as he and Seiya left Hyoga's room.

Hyoga stood silently for some minutes before getting out of his room. Kido's mansion was quiet that morning, seemed most of the dwellers had gone outside to do their business. A small part of Hyoga's heart asked where Camus was, but soon the other part said, "To hell with him."

Hyoga then ate his breakfast all alone. After finishing his breakfast, he stepped to his room. Right now he only wanted to stay there, preventing himself from meeting Camus. But suddenly the telephone in the common room rang. Hyoga turned around and entered the common room to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello!" a girl's cheerful voice.

"Yes?" asked Hyoga.

"May I speak with…," the girl went silent for some seconds, then said. "Well…I don't know what his name is, but I can tell you the things about him: I recognized French accent when he was speaking, so he's probably a Frenchman. He has long hair with slight short fringe and deep blue eyes."

Hyoga played with the telephone cable. "You mean Camus?"

"Maybe…I don't know what his name is."

"What do you want to do with him?"

There was a pause. Probably the girl was a bit startled by Hyoga's tone.

"Well…," said the girl. "I'm Najika Kazami. The man visited my restaurant yesterday, when it was almost closed. He said he'd explored Tokyo the whole day only to find the best gift for his student. Finally he decided to buy my cheesecake. I just want to know whether his student likes the cheesecake."

Silence.

"Hello?" greeted Najika. "Hello? Hello, are you still there?"

"Y…yes, I'm still here…," replied Hyoga with empty eyes. "You…said he'd wandered throughout the city only to find a present for his student…"

"Yes!" said Najika cheerfully. "Twas so sweet…he said he loves his student as a father loves his son. I think he couldn't express it directly, so he tried to express it with cheesecake."

Silence again.

Hyoga felt like he was being stabbed. The guilt that haunted him now was the most dreadful thing he'd ever got in his life…

Suddenly his memory ran back to his childhood.

_"Hyoga, I'm sorry…. A week ago you said you wanted cheesecake, but I've visited the bakery shop and I didn't find any cheesecake there. I only found tiramisu."_

_"Ow…"_

_"Yeah…the owner said the baker who usually made cheesecake had moved to Vladivostok."_

_"…"_

_"Here…I've bought you tiramisu. Right now I can only give you this, but I promise I will give you cheesecake someday."_

_"Really?!"_

_"Yes, Hyoga."_

_"Thank you, Sensei…! I promise to wait for the cheesecake and eat it together with you!"_

"Hello?!" Najika's voice called him again. "Hello??"

"Yes…I'm here...," Hyoga tried to control his voice.

"So…is he home? The man I want to talk to?"

"He…he's not home now…"

"Ow…fine then. Well, I'll call back later."

"Wait…wait a second."

"Yes?"

Hyoga took a deep breath before talking.

"Do you have tiramisu as well?"

"Yes, of course."

"I…I want to buy it…I want to give it to someone as a form of gratitude."

Najika went silent.

"Hello?"

"Ummm…," said Najika. "I don't think tiramisu is a perfect gratitude expression."

"Why?"

"Do you know what 'tiramisu' means in Italian?"

"No."

"It means 'allow me to go to heaven'."

_Allow me to go to heaven…_

Had Camus felt that he would die in the hand of his student when he gave the tiramisu…?

_He's nurtured me…he'd sacrificed himself for me…he loves me more than he loves himself…he wandered around Tokyo just for the sake of a birthday gift for me…he bought cheesecake to fulfill his promise to me…_

Hyoga felt like his throat was being rent.

_What did I do…?_

"Umm…," Najika's voice awakened him again. "I'll call back later then. If you want to buy any cake just visit Fujita restaurant near Seika School. Bye."

Najika finally ended the conversation.

Hyoga was still standing silently. His fringe totally covered his bright blue eyes.

He didn't know how long he had stood when he heard a call from the door.

"Hyoga!"

Hyoga saw Seiya and Shun marched at him. The cheesecake box was in Seiya's grasp.

"Hyoga, we shared this cake to the others. You know, Saga and some Goldies went to the supermarket as well," said Shun. He looked very uneasy. "But when we were about to give it to Milo, he said this cheesecake was given by Camus for you!"

Seiya opened the box and showed it to Hyoga. "Look. Only two slices of cheesecake left."

"We're sorry, Hyoga, we're so sorry…!" begged Shun. "We didn't know that this was given by Camus…!"

Hyoga was hardly listening to Shun's words. His eyes were directed to the startling blue eyes which looking at him in gloom.

Seiya and Shun followed Hyoga's gaze. Both of them shrunk when seeing the startling blue eyes.

"He's in his room now," said Milo to Hyoga. His tone was casual, he didn't even sound angry. But the sadness and disappointment in his voice were the most heartrending sound Hyoga had ever heard.

"If you are tactful enough to ask for his apologize," added Milo. "He's in his room now."

Then Milo left the common room.

Xxx

And then…

_Knock…knock…_

"Come in."

Hyoga opened Camus's door. He saw Camus lying on his bed with his head on the headboard. He was reading a book.

Camus gave his rare smile as he looked at Hyoga. As if Hyoga never shouted at him…as if Hyoga never neglected his cheesecake…as if there had nothing happened with them the previous day…

Hyoga stepped slowly at Camus's bed. He brought two small plates of cheesecake. As he sat on the side of Camus's bed, he gave the plate to Camus without saying anything.

They ate the cake silently. It was so delicious…Hyoga had never tasted such delicious cake in his life…or was it because Camus's sincerity in giving the cake which made it delicious…? He could never know.

Then as usual, Hyoga gazed at his teacher with the warmth and heat in his eyes.

As usual…

"Forgive me, Sensei…"

Camus smiled once again, ruffling his student's hair.

And again…as always…

"It's okay, child," he said. "It's okay …"

**The End**


End file.
